England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has been awarded undisclosed libel damages over an advertisement that suggested he had tampered with his bat during this year’s Ashes series against Australia.
The advert for opticians Specsavers showed a picture of the batsman alongside the statement: “‘Bat tampering’ in the Ashes? Apparently Hot Spot should’ve gone to Specsavers.”
Pietersen was accused by Australian television’s Channel Nine of using silicone tape during the series to prevent the Hot Spot decision-review technology from detecting when he had hit the ball, but he denied the allegations.
Pietersen was not present for Tuesday’s hearing at London’s High Court, when his solicitor, Louise Price, told the court that the advert had appeared on Specsavers’ Twitter and Facebook pages, as well as in several newspapers and magazines.
She said the allegations of bat tampering were both completely untrue and completely unfounded.
Specsavers Optical Group Ltd accepted that Pietersen had not behaved in the manner suggested.
The company, which had already removed the advert from circulation, apologised and agreed to pay him substantial damages and his legal costs.
In a statement the company said: “During the 2013 Ashes series we published a ‘Should’ve Gone to Specsavers’ advert which suggested that Kevin Pietersen may have tampered with his bat in an attempt to prevent Hot Spot technology working. We did not intend to imply this suggestion.”
So far there has been no comment from Channel Nine.
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Petersen was outraged when the network linked his second innings dismissal at Old Trafford to long-standing questions over the Decision review System and Hot Spot technology.
Pietersen, tweeted at the time: “Horrible journalism yet again! My name brought up in hotspot crisis suggesting I use silicon to prevent nicks showing! Such hurtful lies.
“I am never afraid of getting out! If I nick it, I’ll walk. To suggest I cheat by covering my bat with silicon infuriates me. How stupid would I be to try & hide a nick when it could save me on an LBW appeal, like in 1st innings where hotspot showed I nicked it.”
Following the announcement of today’s payout, Pietersen said on Twitter that he would be donating the money to charity.
